V-Cast: Michigan State players deserve a win, but made too many mistakes to get it against Iowa

IOWA CITY – Michigan State was on the cusp of its first Big Ten win, leading late in the fourth quarter at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium before imploding with a shanked punt that led to the game-tying field goal.  A costly mishit by the Spartans on a directional punt followed a short while later and was returned 70 yards for a touchdown by the Hawkeyes in a 26-16 victory.

Afterward, SpartanMag.com staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk sorted through the wreckage of the loss with a V-Cast from Kinnick Stadium.

V-CAST TOPICS

TOO MANY MISTAKES: The Spartans made too many mistakes in this game, and it eventually cost them. Michigan State led this game until late in the fourth quarter, and it did so despite a pair of interceptions thrown by Noah Kim, and a costly decision to go for a fourth-and-one on the Spartan side of the 50-yard line. As usually happens in football, mistakes eventually catch up with teams, and that was the case at Iowa. The dam broke for the Spartans in the fourth quarter with costly punting errors led directly to 10 Iowa points.  

RUN DEFENSE WAS GOOD: Iowa came into this game looking to run the football, and Michigan State wouldn’t let them do it. The Spartans had respectable numbers against the run entering this game, allowing opponents just under 130 yards per game. The run defense in this game was better than it has been. Michigan State held Iowa to 64 rushing yards on 27 carries. The Hawkeyes averaged 2.3 yards per carry. Moving forward, can Michigan State sustain this level of run defense? That remains to be seen.

RUSHING OFFENSE WAS SOLID: The Iowa defense came into this game beaten up and worn down after playing 90 plus snaps on defense in a shutout loss at Penn State last weekend. And Michigan State came into this game determined to run the football on its own terms. The Spartans did exactly that with a run-game operation that was good. Nathan Carter hit the century mark with 108 yards rushing. Tight ends and wide receivers helped Michigan State tailbacks get to the corner. The Spartans averaged 4.9 yards per carry in this game, and they ran the ball in a lot of different ways, including a couple of wide receiver runs. The Spartans can take away some confidence in their run game operation going into the bye week.

NOAH KIM VS KATIN HOUSER: Michigan State coaches will have some decision to make about quarterback position coming out of this game. Kim threw three pics against the Hawkeyes with no touchdown passes to show for it. Given the defense pedigree of Iowa and the hostile road environment of Kinnick Stadium at night, Barnett and his staff were probably justified in going with Kim against the Hawkeyes. Don’t be surprised, however, if Katin Houser gets an opportunity to play at Rutgers coming out of the bye week.

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